Save Me from Myself
by Pandah Rhia
Summary: How I would have liked to see the series go, told through my own characters. When Rikan Genatem discovered an abandoned factory in the city in which he lives, he never expected that it would have as great an impact on his life as it ends up having.
1. Chapter 1

_**So I don't exactly expect this work to get many views or reviews, but whatever, I suppose. This is how I would have liked to see Code Lyoko go, and it's told through my original characters. Don't expect Jeremy and his friends to appear, because they won't. XANA is the only character I kept, along with his monsters, and they don't belong to me in any way. **_

_**Because this is so different than anything I've written before, I'm not exactly sure how I feel about it. I like it, but I'm not sure that it's really worth continuing with. So I've decided to post it here and see what you guys think of it. If it seems to do well, then I'll continue it. If not, then I'll know to never take this route with a story again.  
**_

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko. It belongs to Moonscope, I do believe. I do, however, own all original characters/ideas unless otherwise stated. _  
**

* * *

It was a Sunday morning, mid-February. Snow covered the grounds of the Parisian city. The ones that dared brave their way through the winter storm were all bundled up, wrapped thickly from head to toe. Jackets were zipped up to their chins, hands were mittened, hats were pulled down to just above their eyes, and scarves were wrapped tightly around everyone's necks. Frosty puffs of breath filled the air for only a few moments before disappearing.

Among other things, the Parisian city was home to a popular boarding school, Kadic Academy. The students of Kadic Academy had ventured from their dorm rooms to spend hours playing around and having fun in the powdery substance, finding joy in the day's reprieve of classes.

One student, though, had opted to not join in his peers' games.

Rikan Genatem had never been one to have much fun. Described by his classmates as a nerd, he spent most of his free time locked up in his dorm room either studying or working on some sort of computer program. He'd recently discovered a passageway in his school that led down to the sewers. Curiosity one day led him to explore it, and he'd found himself at an old, abandoned factory. At the time, he hadn't been able to look around it. He'd chosen this day to do so.

"Amazing… Simply amazing!" The words belonged to the fourteen-year-old boy. He had blonde hair that stopped at his shoulders and slightly curled at the ends. Eyes the color of chocolate were wide in amazement as he looked around the room he'd just discovered.

Taking the factory's elevator downward had put him into what he'd deemed the 'computer room.' Little was there aside from a large computer system. Rikan counted at least five monitors from where he was standing. The teen held his breath as he walked over and sat down in the computer chair. Curiosity was evident in his gaze as his eyes scanned the screen. A small headset was sitting on the keyboard; he picked it up and put it on.

"Can anyone hear me?" For several long moments, nothing but static could be heard. When it faded away, Rikan was able to make out a faint voice. Even as he turned the volume up, he had to strain his ears to hear the feminine voice.

"Toma? Toma, is that you?" The girl's voice was high in pitch, but still easy on the ears. It held a faint tinkling sound, similar to a wind chime's music.

"Not exactly, miss," Rikan said in response to her question. He couldn't help but wonder who Toma was as he spoke again. "My name is Rikan."

"Oh…" The boy couldn't stand to hear the disappointment in the girl's voice as she uttered the monosyllabic word. "Well, it's nice to meet you all the same, Rikan. I'm Chiyouko, Youko for short."

"If you don't mind me asking, where are you, Miss Youko?" Her gentle laughter at the question made Rikan's cheeks redden. He could almost hear the smile that had found its way to her face.

"I'm one of two inhabitants of Lyoko." As she spoke, Rikan's attention was drawn to a box that had appeared on one of the computer screens. Static filled it for a moment, and then it went black. Shortly thereafter, the darkness was replaced by the image of a young girl. Her tousled pixie cut was the color of a pale blue diamond. She was lightly tanned, and glacial eyes twinkled brightly. Three small, ice blue snowflake tattoos seemed to sparkle at the corners of her eyes.

She explained Lyoko and its mechanics to Rikan the best she could, telling him of everything she knew about the virtual world. The boy listened, mesmerized by the new information he was absorbing. For close to two hours, he spoke not a word.

Finally, the tale was told.

"Any questions?" Youko asked after she'd finished. Rikan nodded, but did not immediately say anything. He was trying to decide where to start.

"How long have you been on Lyoko? How did you get stuck there?" Rikan felt sure that she wouldn't answer when she averted her gaze. Just as he was debating asking another question, she finally spoke again.

"I don't know," she told him. She shrugged slightly and looked at him once more. "All I remember is waking up one day and being here. I don't know how long ago that was, nor do I know how I came to be here. But I do know that I can't leave here. Whatever coding it is that allows me to do so is missing. I'll probably be here until the day Lyoko is destroyed."

"Not if I can help it." Determination shone bright in Rikan's eyes. "I'm going to get you out of there, Youko. I promise, before long, you'll be here, walking on Earth as if you'd never been living in Lyoko."

* * *

A solid year had passed since Rikan had discovered the super computer and met Chiyouko. In that year, he'd chosen to devote all of his spare time to better understanding Lyoko.

Several weeks after he'd come across the super computer in the factory, he'd finally decided to tell his two closest friends of his discovery. Sorrell Fauna and Flora Liliel had agreed to help their friend out in any way that they could.

At the end of the first year, Sorrell and Flora still had not found a way to help Rikan's cause. One day, though, something changed in Lyoko. A tower had been activated; XANA was at work once more.

Upon discovery by Rikan that Chiyouko was targeted by monsters created by XANA, the second inhabitant of Lyoko, he had chosen to take a risk and materialize his two friends using a program he'd discovered in the computer system and the scanners that they'd found on a lower level in the factory. To his relief, it had proven to be successful. Rikan was uneasy about subjecting his friends' to a world they all knew so little about, but with the threat to Chiyouko's wellbeing, he was willing to take the chance.

He waited with a bated breath for his friends to be completely materialized in the forest sector of Lyoko. He didn't release that breath until Sorrell's voice met his ear.

* * *

"This is amazing, Rikan!" Sorrel, the fifteen-year-old athlete, exclaimed. He and Flora had just been materialized to Lyoko for the first time. They'd quickly discovered that the virtual world was quite different from their home on Earth.

When they'd stepped into the scanners, they'd both been wearing jeans and long-sleeved shirts. After being materialized, though, they'd found that their outfits had been completely changed.

Flora's outfit was designed to model that of a medieval jester. The bodice of her outfit was tight-fitting, and the pants ballooned out slightly before ending by tightly hugging her ankles. The outfit consisted of four main colors. The fabric that was fitted around her ankles was gold. The bodice and the outside part of the pants were a slightly darker shade of dusty rose. Her back and the inside of her legs were fabriced in black. Starting at her neck and ending slightly below her belly button was a section of white fabric that contoured to the curves of her body. It was outlined in black and had thin, black criss-crosses inside. Around her waist was a black and white belt. It was slightly loose, and the pieces of fabric met in the center of her waist and were connected by a brilliantly sparkling red jewel. She wore dusty rose colored gloves that stopped in the middle of her lower arm. The skin of her arms alternated in stripes of black and white. Her face was painted white and had dusty rose swirls adorning the cheeks below her eyes. Her rosy hair was pulled up in pigtails. The left one had a black ribbon wrapped around it, and a white ribbon complimented the right pigtail. Both ribbons had small bells tied to their ends. She wore simple black flats, and in one hand, she held a large, but lightweight, gold bell attached to a white leather string.

Sorrell had seemingly been replaced by a tiger, a humanized one, of course. He was wearing a simple orange body suit that had jagged black stripes on the sides. A tiger's tail lazily flicked the air behind him, and black tipped ears twitched atop his black-streaked orange hair. He had clawed paws and two slim, horizontal stripes on each cheek. His honey colored eyes were slitted like a cat's. Though he was an athlete, his features were delicate, and he did not move as if he was an experienced player even though he was. His Lyoko form reflected his graceful, slightly-feminine side while still allowing him to perform well in the virtual world.

"I must say, you've outdone yourself this time, Rikan," Sorrell commented, voicing his and Flora's thoughts. Flora simply nodded in agreement.

"Thanks, but we don't have time to converse about all of this, you two!" Rikan sounded slightly frantic as he spoke to his friends. "Youko's in trouble!" He instructed the two to head north, around thirty degrees, telling them that they should see the Lyoko girl soon if they did so. Without further comment or delay, the two did as they were told. They took off into the deeper part of the forest, dodging trees as they went.

They heard the monsters before they ever saw them. Coming to a small clearing in the forest sector, they were met by the sight of six small, bug-like robots. They were firing lasers at a large rock close to the edge of the platform.

"The computer says they're Kankrelats," Rikan informed them. Sorrell gave a slight chuckle as the two observed the monsters for a brief moment.

"They look like weaklings," he commented. As if to prove him wrong, one of the six Kankrelats turned to the two and began to charge up its laser. The two jumped aside as it let loose the blast, but Flora was not fast enough. It struck her in the chest, knocking her backwards to the ground.

"You just lost ten life points, Flora!" Rikan exclaimed. "Don't get hit again!" The mute nodded just slightly as she rose to her feet. Her visage remained expressionless even as she felt Sorrell's concerned gaze on her.

Instinctively, she fed a small amount of energy into the bell she was holding. It began to glow a faint shade of pink. Holding on to the end of the leather string, she began to twirl it in the air beside her body. The bell did not ring, but instead emitted a high-pitched whistle. The two robots closest to her began to stagger away, but they did not make it far before the whistle's frequency began to short their circuits. Within a matter of moments, they were reduced to little more than robotic paperweights. Dodging more lasers fired at her, Flora kicked them up into the air above her with her foot before leaping up and delivering kicks to them that sent them into the Digital Sea below the platform they were on. Two bright columns of light marked the Kankrelats' demise.

Three more Kankrelats were destroyed by Sorrell, who cut them in half with his razor claws. The last monster was taken out by Flora, who smashed it to pieces when she used her giant bell as a wrecking ball.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Their attention was drawn to the rock that the monsters had been firing at. From behind it came a girl no older than they were. She was dressed in a kimono that was the color of blue forget me not flowers. It fit her form, and the sleeves billowed out at her wrists. It had small, milky white snowflakes adorning the edges of her sleeves and the hem of the bottom, and the obi was white as well. The kimono stopped at her knees. With it, she wore a pair of shoes similar to ballet flats. They were white and had ribbons that were wrapped around her ankles, forming a cross in the front, and tied together in a knot. The ends of the ribbon were tucked underneath the ribbon so that they could not be seen.

"You two are my life savers!" she said as she walked up to the two. She stopped before them and gave them a warm, grateful smile. "Thank you so much! I'm Youko. It's nice to meet you!"

"Don't worry about it," Sorrell told her. "We were happy to help you out. I'm Sorrell, and this is Flora." The girl-turned-jester gave a slight wave to the Lyoko inhabitant, but otherwise paid the two no mind. She was surveying their surroundings, taking in everything, eager to stay on her toes. She felt that something was off about the peaceful break from fighting they'd been given. She felt that Sorrell and Youko had been lulled into a false state of calm, and as they two chattered away beside her, she was staying alert, not trusting the virtual world. She was quickly made thankful for her untrusting nature.

Slight tremors reached her senses. They were faint, too faint to be felt if they weren't being expected, but they were still there. Flora's eyes narrowed as she took a closer look at the trees surrounding the clearing they were standing in. A flash of rusty red caught her golden eyes. Not willing to take the chance of them being attacked, she dropped her bell and tackled her friends, pushing the three of them behind the rock for safety. She was just in time; a laser struck the ground where they'd been standing moments before.

"You could have warned us, Rikan, Flora!" Sorrell hissed, sitting up from where he'd landed. He rubbed the back of his head as he opened his eyes and mouth to give Rikan and Flora a piece of his mind, only to find that Flora had disappeared from where she'd been sitting. After knocking the two to the ground, Flora had pushed off and landed in a crouch atop the rock. From there, she'd jumped away again; a laser hit the spot where she'd been crouched. She somersaulted through the air, coming to rest on top of the Krab that had made its way into the clearing to attack the three. The monster began to thrash about as it realized that Flora was on it, but the girl held her ground. From within the glove she wore on her left arm, she pulled out a dagger. She held onto its handle tightly with both hands, and she brought it down into the Eye of XANA. She quickly pulled it out and flipped off of the Krab's back. It exploded as she gracefully came to rest on her feet on the ground at the edge of the clearing. The soft tinkle of the bells twined into her pigtails was then the only sound that could be heard.

"Nice work, Flora!" Rikan praised his friend. She gave no indication that she had heard him as she slipped her dagger back to its home between the fabric of her glove and her striped skin. Silence fell between the members of the group, but it was not completely uncomfortable. Sorrell and Youko came to stand beside their friend as she knelt down to the ground. Her eyes slipped shut, and she placed one hand palm down on the ground. She stayed that way for several long moments. She was projecting a part of her soul onward in the sector, directing it to follow the path of the tremors that the activated tower was causing. When she found what she was looking for, she was on her feet again. Not a word was spoken as she picked her bell up again and then took off running in the direction she'd sent her soul in. Youko and Sorrell exchanged a curious glance, but followed after their friend without question. They trusted that she knew what she was doing.

"Watch out, you three!" Rikan sounded slightly worked up as he spoke to his friends. "You've got a group of Krabes and Kankrelats following you!"

The tower was in view, looming over the three with its fierce red aura. They could hear the pounding of robotic feet behind them as they continued on towards their destination. Lasers were fired at them every few seconds, mostly missing, though a few of them did hit their target. Sorrell and Flora took the blasts intended for Youko; they wanted her to reach the tower unharmed.

Sorrell skidded to a halt at the base of the platform that the tower was situated on. He pivoted to face the approaching monsters, slipping easily into a fighting stance. Flora mimicked his movements.

"You go on, Youko,' Sorrell quietly spoke to the girl. "We'll hold these guys off long enough for you to get into the tower." Youko nodded, wishing them luck as she began to scale the set of steadily-rising stepping stones that led up to the higher platform.

"Sorrell, you have fifty life points left. You only have twenty, Flora," Rikan informed the two. The monsters began to warm up their lasers as they came to stop just a couple of feet in front of the two fighters. Tension was thick in the air as each side waited for the other to make the first move. A Krab finally tilted itself back, aiming its laser up at Youko, who had nearly reached the tower. As it released the blast, Flora jumped high into the air, taking the blow for her friend. Sorrell's eyes were wide as the girl crashed back down to the ground. She began to dematerialize before his eyes. Within a matter of seconds, she had completely disappeared.

"Youko has made it into the tower. I'm bringing you back now, Sorrell," Rikan said less than a minute later as he launched the program that would bring Sorrell back to Earth.

* * *

The feeling of peace washed over Youko as she came to stand in the center of the tower's lower platform. She relaxed her body as she was carried up to the second platform. She landed lightly on her feet on the platform's edge, and she stepped to the center of the platform once more. A screen appeared before her; she lightly held her hand against it, and her name appeared on the left side. The screen changed to another, this one asking for a code. She typed in the word 'Lyoko,' and after a moment, the tower went black. It stayed that way for several long moments before a white light erupted from somewhere below her.

"Return to the past now," Rikan spoke as the light spread and bathed over everything it could reach. Just like that, things returned to how they'd been during the early hours of that morning before Rikan and his friends had ventured to the factory. XANA's possession of the city's animals went back to never having happened, and none of Kadic Academy's students or staff members would remember the terror they'd felt when the animals were attacking the school. Serenity returned to the city once more, and Rikan felt content with what he and his friends had accomplished.

As he lay down in his bed back in his dorm room, he briefly reflected on his friends' first trip to Lyoko. He didn't get far with his reflection, though. He was soon fast asleep once more, this time to remain asleep until his alarm clock would wake him up for the day's classes.

* * *

**_Aaaaaaannnnnnnddddd... That's that. Tell me what you thought about it, please. Did you like it? Did you hate it? Should I delete it and never write again? I'm anxious to receive opinions on this, even though I doubt I'll actually get any. _**

**_Thanks in advance if you do read, and please drop me a short review! _**

**_Much love, _**

**_Pandah  
_**


	2. Chapter 2

**_The second chapter has arrived, freshly written! I'm still not quite sure how I feel about this story, but it's worth writing for the time being, I guess. _**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Code Lyoko. All I own are my characters._**

* * *

"Youko? Can you hear me, Youko?" It was late at night, and though everyone else was likely to be asleep, Rikan was still awake. He was sitting on his bed in his room, headset on and his laptop in his lap. After several seconds, the video chat box with his friend on Lyoko appeared.

It had been nearly a week since XANA's first attack, and they had not seen any signs of his activities since then. Rikan was thankful for the reprieve; it gave him more time to focus on finding a way to materialize Youko to the real world. So far, he'd had no luck, but he was determined that he'd find a way or die trying.

"Any sign of XANA?" Rikan asked. Youko shook her head slightly. Off and on the past week, she'd spent time in each of the four sectors, monitoring the lands for the tremors that would alert her to an activated tower. She hadn't found any at all.

"Everything is quiet here," she replied. She gave Rikan a friendly smile. "Now, you should get some rest. I can handle things here on Lyoko while you do that." She gave a slight wave to her friend before terminating the connection. Sighing, Rikan closed his laptop and then put it away so that he could get some rest.

On Earth, hours had passed since Rikan and Youko had last spoken, but on Lyoko, it seemed to Youko that they'd only just talked.

She was currently in the Ice Sector. Perched atop a hunk of ice on one of the sector's platform, her eyes were closed, legs crossed. She was meditating, scoping out the land, a trick she'd picked up after witnessing Flora do it only once. As of that moment, she had not detected any tremors, but she was not going to let her guard down again.

She was just about to head back to the sector's Way Tower when she felt the tremors. A slight gasp escaped from between her light pink lips. She had not felt the tremors before, yet when they began, they were strong. XANA had activated a nearby tower.

"Rikan?" She hoped that he was near his computer so she could let him know about the tower. To her dismay, the boy did not respond. Feeling that there was no use in fretting, she hopped down from where she was sitting on the ice. She took two small steps forward, but stopped as more pulsations reached her senses.

"I can't wait around for him. I'll have to do this on my own," she told herself. Giving a reassuring nod, she began to run in the direction the pulsations were coming from.

"Now, class, who can give me the correct answer to the problem I have written up on the board?" Kadic Academy's math teacher, Mrs. Lancaster, asked her students. The classroom's lights flickered on and off for a moment. Many of the students looked around, but as usual, only Rikan dared raise his hand, though it was to answer the teacher's question instead of asking about the lights. Mrs. Lancaster sighed softly before calling on him.

"The answer is twenty-seven," Rikan replied. Mrs. Lancaster nodded; as she began to ask her next question, the bell signaling the end of the class rang. Everyone immediately rose to leave.

"Don't forget to study for tomorrow's test!" the teacher called to her students as they left her classroom. Once outside, Rikan met up with Flora and Sorrell, who had just come from gym class with Coach Middleton.

"Lunch time is my favorite part of every day," Sorrell commented. Rikan gave a slight roll of his eyes.

"You guys go eat without me," he told his two friends. "I'm going to go check with Youko real quick. I'll meet up with you later." He waved at the two before turning and walking away, hoping that he would be lucky and not get caught in his dorm that day.

Luck was indeed on his side that day; he didn't see anyone in the halls as he made his way his dorm room. He slipped into the room, shutting the door behind him, and made his way over to his bed where he'd left his laptop. He put the headset on as he pulled up the programs he'd transferred to his computer from the super computer.

"Youko?" Almost instantly, the Lyoko inhabitant appeared on the computer screen. She looked frightened.

"Oh, Rikan! XANA's activated a tower. I can see it, but it's being guarded by monsters," she hurriedly told him. Rikan nodded as he sent a message to his friends telling them to meet him at the tower.

"Help is on the way. Just stay out of sight until then." Rikan closed out the program and then left his dorm room. At that moment, he didn't care who caught him. He was more concerned about reaching Youko before XANA's monsters discovered her.

"Youko should be nearby. The tower is just south from where you are now," Rikan told Sorrell and Flora. He'd just materialized the two onto Lyoko.

"I can see it from here, Rikan," Sorrell said, spotting the activated tower's red aura against the sky. Unwilling to waste time, the two headed south. The tower was not far from where they'd been materialized; it wasn't even hidden like Rikan had warned them it might be.

Sliding their way through an ice tunnel, what little bit of passage of time there was in Lyoko seemed to come to a standstill. The tunnel's end was coming close. They could see into the valley in which the tower was located.

"What's she doing?" Rikan hissed, eyes narrowing. They could see Youko in the clearing. She was doing her best to avoid the blasts aimed at her from monsters that Rikan identified as Bloks and Hornets, but she was not doing a very good job.

"Hurry up, you two! Youko's losing too many life points!" Rikan practically shouted at his two friends. Flora gritted her teeth, unhappy with her friend's demand, but, as usual, she said nothing.

The tunnel soon ran itself out. Shouting at Flora to take Youko to the tower, Sorrell attacked the group of monsters.

Night was close to falling on Kadic Academy. The sun was low on the horizon, and street lights and lamps on the school's campus had come on to illuminate the grounds. Every so often, they would flicker on and off, as if the bulbs were soon to go out, but then the light would return, strong as if their bulbs were new.

"Those three are always disappearing. Where in the world do they go every day?" Fifteen year old Kayla Lancaster, daughter of Kadic Academy's math teacher, unhappily commented. School had let out for the day and dinner was over with, and she and her closest friend were hanging around outside. Kayla was pacing back and forth beneath one of the school's oak trees. From a nearby bench, Blake Middleton watched her.

"We should find out," the boy absentmindedly said. He laid down on the bench, hands behind his head and knees bent. His eyes slipped shut. "I mean, how hard can it be? I mean, it's not like Rikan and his friends are traveling to another country or world. They can't get too far away from this school." Kayla stormed over to where her friend was laying, and Blake opened his eyes once more. Angry hazel met calm, uncaring eyes of the same color. After a moment, the girl huffed and turned away, crossing her arms.

"Well it's not like we have anything better to do," she finally said. She hated to admit that Blake's idea was a good one, but it was the only one they currently had. "We'll get down to the bottom of this."

Four of the seven monsters had been destroyed by Sorrell before he was devirtualized by one of the remaining Hornets. Upon receiving the order from Sorrell to take Youko to the tower, Flora had taken the girl by the hand, pulling her towards where the tower loomed in the distance. When Sorrell was sent back to Earth and Flora realized they were being chased by the three remaining Hornets, she, being the faster of the two, had knelt down so that Youko could climb onto her back. She was glad she'd made the choice; they easily covered more ground that way, even with the monsters being right behind them. To their dismay, though, they soon discovered that a small labyrinth separated them from their goal.

Flora was faced with a situation where she had to quickly make a choice. The maze had three openings: one path went left, one went right, and the other was straightforward.

"Take the right path," Rikan told her, his voice seemingly coming from nowhere. Nodding, Flora did as he'd said without a second thought. Rikan walked her through the maze, and before too long, the end was in sight.

The Hornets' buzzing wings alerted Flora to the fact that they were closing in again. The tower was only twenty-five feet ahead of the two girls. Her body tensing slightly, Youko let her feet hit the ground once more.

"I'll make a run for it," she quietly said to Flora. She received nothing more than a slight nod before she was gone, leaving Flora to deal with XANA's monsters all on her own.

Kayla and Blake had finally formulated their plan. It had taken them the better part of an hour, but they were satisfied with the end result.

"We'll get to work tomorrow," Kayla told Blake. The coach's son nodded in response. Silence fell between the two as they walked along the sidewalk from the bench near the cafeteria to the building with the dorm rooms. Kayla's hands were clasped in front of her, and she was looking down at the ground. Every few moments, she would glance at Blake, but the boy seemed to not notice.

"Well, I guess I'm going to go see if my mom's done in her classroom for today," she finally said, stopping where she was on the sidewalk. Blake paused, and he looked at his friend as she continued to speak. "I'll see you later." She turned to walk away, but Blake did not move as he watched her.

She had almost made it to the classes' building when the lights began to flicker again, much more often this time. Kayla stopped and tilted her head back to look at the fixtures.

"Stupid faulty lighting," she mumbled under her breath. That was before she noticed sparks were flying at the glass part that surrounded the light bulb. Eyebrows furrowed, she took a step away from the lights.

"What's goi-?" Mid-sentence, she was cut off by a loud sound. The glass parts of the lamps were cracking. Before she could react in any way, the noise was made again, much louder this time. Almost immediately after, the glass all simultaneously exploded, showering the ground and Kayla, who almost hadn't had enough time to duck and cover her head. She screamed, though whether from pain or terror was not evident.

"You have less than fifty life points left!" Rikan's voice boomed. Flora gritted her teeth, eyes narrowed. She wasn't paying her friend any attention. She was more concerned with buying Youko more time to get to the tower than she was with actually defeating the Hornets.

"Flora, what are you doing? You just lost twenty more life points!" Rikan shouted when the girl allowed herself to be hit by another laser. Again, though, she didn't listen to him. She had tuned Rikan out; she was focused on what she knew she had to do, and nothing more than that mattered to her.

She turned her head to look at the tower over her shoulder. She saw Youko entering the tower just as she was hit by two more lasers. She devirtualized with the knowledge that all would soon be well once more.

Kayla had never been so afraid in her life. Frayed wire edges sparked in the broken lamps above her. She was still huddled on the ground, whimpering. From all around the campus grounds, she could hear more and more glass breaking as other lamps broke for no apparent reason at all.

"Kayla!" A familiar voice shouted, but the redhead seemingly had not heard him. She wasn't aware of his presence until she felt his arms around her, pulling her out into the open grass away from the electricity. He did not let her go even as she began to cry into his shirt.

"S-Someone's going to pay for this!" she said through her tears. "Someone's going to wish they'd never let any of this happen!" She was being irrational and she knew it, but at the moment, the only thing she cared about was getting revenge on someone, anyone, for putting her through the tiny little event that had just happened.

"Rikan, Flora never materialized!"

The tower had been deactivated in the ice sector and Flora had been devirtualized. Sorrell had gone down to the scanners to meet his friend, but to his surprise, she was not in the scanner when its doors slid open.

"What!" Within just a couple of minutes of receiving the news, Rikan was down in the scanner room with Sorrell. True to what he'd been told, Flora had not come back to Earth. Doing their best not to stress out, though, the two went back up to the computer room. Sitting down in the computer chair, Rikan put on his headset and contacted Youko.

"She's not still here on Lyoko," the girl informed the two after being told that Flora was missing. "She might have gotten caught in Virtual Limbo, but it will take some time for me to search and locate her if she is there." With that, Youko disappeared from the screen. Rikan sat back in his chair. A heavy sigh escaped from between his lips. He was just about to shut his eyes and rub them when something on one of the computer screens caught his eye. A simple text box had appeared, but instead of having characters already inside, they were showing up as if someone was typing them. A message was soon to be seen by the boys.

_I am superior; you cannot beat me at a game I've been playing since my creation. Stop meddling in my affairs or the fate that your friend faces will become much worse. _

_We will encounter each other again soon. _

_Virus_

"'Virus?'" Sorrell and Rikan questioned in unison. The two exchanged a glance, unsure what to make of the day's turn of events. A million thoughts ran through the boys' minds, with only one recurring every few moments.

_How were they going to save Flora while facing the new threat posed to them?_

* * *

_**So... Thoughts/Reviews, anyone? I'd love to get some feedback on this, but even if I don't, thanks for reading all the same!**_

_**Much love, **_

_**Pandah  
**_


End file.
